From Paul Iovino, Director of the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment
As we come together during this very difficult time and mourn with the Annunciation family and community, please take the following safety and security tips into consideration. While we have no information of any current threats, we know there are a lot of parents, staff, faculty and the faithful feeling vulnerable and uneasy in the wake of this tragedy. We encourage you all to consider the following:
- Review your current safety and security plans.
- Connect with your local law enforcement. Be intentional about maintaining and growing those relationships. They can assist with security plans, premise surveys, extra patrols and training.
- Maintain a heightened level of security in your building, with exterior doors locked and visitor access suspended or with strict practices in place when allowing visitors in. We are not aware of any current threats to any parishes or schools and recognize there is a balance between creating a space where parents, staff and the faithful feel safe and having too many security measures that may create undue stress.
- If you are not yet joined the Archdiocese Security Managers Information group (SMIG), we encourage you to so. It is free to parishes and schools. You can visit Mission Support to register and learn more about this group. We meet bimonthly and discuss safety-related topics, have guest speakers, and announce upcoming training events. Past sessions have been recorded. In addition, we have a robust website that shares information on upcoming training, relevant security updates and security-related document templates.
- You can always reach out to the Office of Ministerial Standards and Safe Environment or SMIG staff with any safety related questions
We will have more to come in the coming weeks to include training. We have reached out to Minnesota Homeland Security Emergency Management, who the Archdiocese has partnered with in the past to assist. We are here to assist you.
